Image display device, and image display method

ABSTRACT

In device  1  including rear view wide angle camera  11 , and ECU  20  and display  30  displaying rearward image captured by the camera  11 , display control section  25  of the ECU  20  and the display  30  divides the image into right and left rear lateral screens  204  and central rearward screen  202  for display, driver can determine which place is displayed. The section  25  and the display  30  do not display the same image on the screens  204, 202 , the driver can understand the distance between object in the image and host vehicle  100 . The section  25  performs distortion correction of correcting distortion of the image displayed on the screens  204 , the driver can see the image viewable due to the distortion correction. The section  25  forms the screens  204  in shape based on the distortion correction, the driver can understand an approaching position of the object in the image.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This is a national phase application based on the PCT InternationalPatent Application No. PCT/JP2011/072467 filed on Sep. 29, 2011, theentire contents of which is incorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to an image display device that displaysan image of a surrounding area of a vehicle and an image display methodthereof.

BACKGROUND ART

During micro-low speed traveling, a driver may not see a desired placedue to a blind spot in a host vehicle and a blind spot in an obstructionsuch as a wall or a peripheral vehicle. Thus, a device that captures theblind spot in the host vehicle and the blind spot due to the obstructionusing a camera and displays the captured image using a display has beenproposed. For example, in a device disclosed in Patent Literature 1,with respect to an image captured by a wide angle camera having a visualangle of 180 degrees, a range of 120 degrees in the visual angle of 180degrees is usually displayed on a display, to thereby form a parkingsupport image. If an obstruction is detected, the device displays therange of the wide angle of 180 degrees on the display, to thereby form aparking support image.

CITATION LIST Patent Literature

[Patent Literature 1] Japanese Unexamined Patent Application PublicationNo. 2009-65483

SUMMARY OF INVENTION Technical Problem

However, in the above-mentioned technique, the image of the wide anglerange of 180 degrees is displayed only when the obstruction is detected.Thus, when the obstruction is not detected although the obstructionapproaches the vehicle, the image of the wide angle range of 180 degreesis not displayed. Further, in the above-mentioned technique, the drivercan recognize the image of the wide angle range of 180 degrees only whenthe obstruction is detected. Accordingly, the above-mentioned techniquehas a problem to resolve regarding display of an image that is easilyviewable and easily understandable by the driver.

In order to solve the above problems, an object of the invention is toprovide an image display device and an image display method capable ofdisplaying an image that is easily viewable and easily understandable bythe driver.

Solution to Problem

According to an embodiment of the invention, there is provided an imagedisplay device including: an image obtaining unit that obtains an imageof a surrounding area of a vehicle; and an image display unit thatdisplays the image of the surrounding area obtained by the imageobtaining unit, in which the image display unit divides the image of thesurrounding area into a left lateral screen, a central screen and aright lateral screen for display, performs distortion correction ofcorrecting distortion of the image of the surrounding area displayed onthe left lateral screen and the right lateral screen, and forms the leftlateral screen and the right lateral screen in a shape based on thedistortion correction.

According to this configuration, in the image display device includingthe image obtaining unit that obtains the image of the surrounding areaof the vehicle and the image display unit that displays the image of thesurrounding area obtained by the image obtaining unit, the image displayunit divides the image of the surrounding area into the right and theleft lateral screens and the central screen for display, and thus, adriver can easily determine which place is displayed. Further, the imagedisplay unit does not display the same image on the right and the leftlateral screens and the central screen, and thus, the driver can easilydetermine the distance between an object in the image of the surroundingarea and a host vehicle. Further, the image display unit performs thedistortion correction of correcting the distortion of the image of thesurrounding area displayed on the right and the left lateral screens,and thus, the image of the surrounding area is easily viewable due tothe distortion correction. Further, the image display unit forms theright and the left lateral screens in the shape based on the distortioncorrection, and thus, the driver can easily determine an approachingposition of the object in the image of the surrounding area.

In this case, the image display unit may performs the distortioncorrection of correcting distortion of the image of the surrounding areadisplayed on the left lateral screen and the right lateral screen due toaberration of a wide angle lens, and may narrow a vertical height of theleft lateral screen and the right lateral screen toward a left side ofthe left lateral screen and a right side of the right lateral screen. Anouter edge of the left lateral screen may have a shape having a portiongoing toward an upper left side and an outer edge of the right lateralscreen may have a shape having a portion going toward an upper rightside.

According to this configuration, the image display unit performs thedistortion correction of correcting the distortion due to the aberrationof the wide angle lens of the image of the surrounding area displayed onthe left lateral screen and the right lateral screen, and narrows thevertical height of the left lateral screen and the right lateral screentoward the left side of the left lateral screen and the right side ofthe right lateral screen. The outer edge of the left lateral screen hasthe shape having the portion going toward the upper left side and theouter edge of the right lateral screen has the shape having the portiongoing toward the upper right side. Thus, the image of the surroundingarea having undergone the correction of the distortion that is decreasedtoward a distant portion thereof due to the aberration of the wide anglelens has a trapezoidal shape having sides going toward the upper rightand upper left sides, for example. Thus, the driver can easily recognizethe position where the image of the surrounding area is captured.Further, the driver can easily recognize the approaching position of theobject in the image of the surrounding area.

Further, the image display unit may perform the distortion correction ofcorrecting distortion of the image of the surrounding area displayed onthe left lateral screen and the right lateral screen due to aberrationof a wide angle lens, and may form the left lateral screen and the rightlateral screen to have a size smaller than that of the central screen.

According to this configuration, the image display unit performs thedistortion correction of correcting distortion due to aberration of awide angle lens of the image of the surrounding area displayed on theleft lateral screen and the right lateral screen, and forms the leftlateral screen and the right lateral screen to have a size smaller thanthat of the central screen. Thus, in the image of the surrounding areahaving undergone the correction of the distortion that is decreasedtoward the distant portion thereof due to the aberration of the wideangle lens, the left lateral screen and the right lateral screen havethe size smaller than that of the central screen, and thus, the drivercan easily determine a position corresponding to the image of thesurrounding area. Further, the driver can easily determine anapproaching position of the object in the image of the surrounding area.Furthermore, since the size of the left lateral screen and the rightlateral screen is simply decreased, it is possible to reduce theprocessing load of the device.

Further, the image display unit may display the left lateral screen, thecentral screen and the right lateral screen, respectively, at intervals.

According to this configuration, the image display unit may display theleft lateral screen, the central screen and the right lateral screen,respectively, at intervals. Thus, the driver can easily determine thatthe left lateral screen, the central screen and the right lateral screenare respectively divided.

Further, the image display unit may display, when an object included inthe image of the surrounding area of either of the left lateral screenand the right lateral screen approaches the vehicle, a driving supportdisplay indicating the approach of the object.

According to this configuration, the image display unit displays, whenthe object included in the image of the surrounding area of either ofthe left lateral screen and the right lateral screen approaches thevehicle, the driving support display indicating the approach of theobject. Thus, the driver can easily recognize the object that approachesin a lateral direction although the driver watches the central screen.

Further, according to another embodiment of the invention, there isprovided an image display method including: obtaining an image of asurrounding area of a vehicle; and displaying the image of thesurrounding area obtained in the obtaining of the image of thesurrounding area, in which the displaying of the image of thesurrounding area includes dividing the image of the surrounding areainto a left lateral screen, a central screen and a right lateral screenfor display, performing distortion correction of correcting distortionof the image of the surrounding area displayed on the left lateralscreen and the right lateral screen, and forming the left lateral screenand the right lateral screen in a shape based on the distortioncorrection.

Advantageous Effects of Invention

According to the embodiments of the invention, it is possible to displayan image that is easily viewable and easily understandable by a driver.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a drivingsupport display device according to an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view illustrating a situation where a driving supportdisplay device according to the embodiment is applied.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a basic operation of the drivingsupport display device according to the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an unprocessed original image capturedby a rear view wide angle camera.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a display image when an approachingmoving object is not present during operation of a driving supportdisplay system according to the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a display image when an approachingmoving object is present during operation of the driving support displaysystem according to the embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a display image when an approachingmoving object is not present during non-operation of the driving supportdisplay system according to the embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a display image when an approachingmoving object is present during non-operation of the driving supportdisplay system according to the embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a plan view illustrating a situation when an object is presentin an optical flow area of the driving support display device accordingto the embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a plan view illustrating a driving support target when anobject is present in the optical flow area of the driving supportdisplay device according to the embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a plan view illustrating a situation when an object ispresent in a pattern matching area of the driving support display deviceaccording to the embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a plan view illustrating a driving support target when anobject is present in the pattern matching area of the driving supportdisplay device according to the embodiment.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating an operation according to eachsupport area and each target, of the driving support display deviceaccording to the embodiment.

FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating a display image when a moving objectis present in the optical flow area of the driving support displaydevice according to the present embodiment and a person is present inthe pattern matching area thereof.

FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating a display image when a person ispresent in the pattern matching area of the driving support displaydevice according to the embodiment.

FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating a display image according to anotherembodiment.

FIG. 17 is a diagram illustrating a display image according to stillanother embodiment.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

Hereinafter, an image display device and an image display methodaccording to an embodiment of the invention will be described withreference to the accompanying drawings. As shown in FIG. 1, the imagedisplay device according to the present embodiment is configured as adriving support display device 1. The driving support display device 1includes a rear view wide angle camera 11, a vehicle speed sensor 12, asteering angle sensor 13, an ECU 20 and a display 30. The drivingsupport display device 1 of the present embodiment is installed in avehicle, and provides a rearward image to a driver with respect to avehicle.

The rear view wide angle camera 11 is a camera for capturing therearward image of the vehicle. The rear view wide angle camera 11 is awide angle camera having a visual angle of about 180 degrees. Thevehicle speed sensor 12 is a sensor that detects the speed of thevehicle. For example, the vehicle speed sensor 12 detects the rotationalspeed of an axle of the vehicle, to thereby detect the speed of thevehicle. The steering angle sensor 13 is a sensor that detects thesteering angle of the vehicle. A shift position sensor is a sensor thatdetects whether the position of the shift of a transmission of thevehicle is disposed in a reverse (R) position.

The electronic control unit (ECU) 20 generally controls the drivingsupport display device 1. The ECU 20 is an electronic control unit thatincludes a central processing unit (CPU), a read only memory (ROM), arandom access memory (RAM) and the like. The ECU 20 causes anapplication program stored in the ROM to be downloaded to the RAM and tobe executed in the CPU, to thereby execute a variety of operationsrelating to image display.

When the ECU 20 is divided according to functions thereof, the ECU 20includes a moving object detecting section 21, a moving objecttrajectory detecting section 22, a moving object position and relativespeed detecting section 23, a risk estimating section 24 and a displaycontrol section 25.

As described later, the moving object detecting section 21 detects anobject in an image captured by the rear view wide angle camera 11, by apattern matching method of detecting an object included in an image bycomparing the image with a predetermined pattern, and an optical flowmethod of detecting an object included in an image by analyzing movingdirection and speed of a point in the image over time. As describedlater, when the object is detected by the pattern matching, the movingobject detecting section 21 can detect a stationary object.

The moving object trajectory detecting section 22 detects a trajectoryof the object in the image, from the position and movement of the objectin the image detected by the moving object detecting section 21 and themovement of the vehicle detected by the vehicle speed sensor 12 and thesteering angle sensor 13.

The moving object position and relative speed detecting section 23detects the position of the object in the image and the relative speedthereof with respect to the vehicle, on the basis of the trajectory ofthe object in the image detected by the moving object trajectorydetecting section 22.

The risk estimating section 24 estimates the risk of the object in theimage, on the basis of the position of the object in the image and therelative speed detected by the moving object position and relative speeddetecting section 23.

As described later, the display control section 25 displays a drivingsupport display for supporting driving of the driver in the display 30,from the position of the object and the relative speed detected by themoving object position and relative speed detecting section 23, the riskestimated by the risk estimating section 24 and the state of the vehicledetected by the vehicle speed sensor 12, the steering angle sensor 13and the shift position sensor 14.

The display 30 displays the rearward image captured by the rear viewwide angle camera 11. For example, the display 30 may use a monitorinstalled around the driver's seat or a head-up display that displays animage on a front glass or the like.

In the present embodiment, the driving support display device 1 detectsan object around the vehicle by image recognition for the image capturedby the rear view wide angle camera 11. However, a sensor such as radar,lidar or sonar may be separately provided to detect the object aroundthe vehicle.

Hereinafter, an operation of the driving support display device 1 of thepresent embodiment will be described. As shown in FIG. 2, the drivingsupport display device 1 of the present embodiment is applied to supportdriving of a driver who has difficulty seeing the back of a host vehicle100 when the host vehicle 100 from a parking spot to a road whiletraveling in reverse, and when the host vehicle 100 enters the parkingspot while traveling in reverse. The driving support display device 1detects another vehicle V or the like in a support area A that is animaging range of the rear view wide angle camera 11, and reports theresult to the driver.

First, the basic operation of the driving support display device 1 ofthe present embodiment will be described. As shown in FIG. 3, in thedriving support display device 1 of the present embodiment, the shiftposition sensor 14 enters an operating state while the lidar thetransmission of the host vehicle 100 is disposed in the reverse position(S101).

The display control section 25 of the ECU 20 of the driving supportdisplay device 1 determines whether the detection values of the vehiclespeed sensor 12 and the steering angle sensor 13 satisfy a systemoperating condition for notifying of a moving object on a lateral side,in a driving support system of the driving support display device 1(S102).

As the method of detecting the moving object, there is radar, lidar,sonar, image recognition or the like, but erroneous detection ornon-detection may occur according to a condition such as the speed orsteering angle of the host vehicle 100, due to performance of the sensoror accuracy of the image recognition. The erroneous detection andnon-detection cause the driver to have a distrust of the driving supportsystem of the driving support display device 1. Thus, in the presentembodiment, the driving support system that notifies of the movingobject on the lateral side is set to a non-operating state when thespeed or steering angle is equal to or greater than a predeterminedthreshold value.

For example, if the driving support display device 1 notifies the driverof the moving object on the lateral side of the host vehicle 100 onlywhen the host vehicle 100 starts traveling as in the situation shown inFIG. 2, it is possible to set a case where the speed is around 0 km/h,is equal to or less than 0.1 km/h to 3 km/h, is or equal to or less than4 km/h as an operating condition of the driving support system thatnotifies the driver of the moving object on the lateral side of the hostvehicle 100.

In the case of the operating condition of the driving support systemthat notifies of the moving object on the lateral side (S102), thedisplay control section 25 divides the image captured by the rear viewwide angle camera 11 into three parts to be displayed in the display 30(S103). As shown in a display screen 200 in FIG. 4, the original imagecaptured by the rear view wide angle camera 11 has a visual angle of 180degrees. In right and left edge portions of the image, distortion occursdue to aberration of a wide angle lens, in which the image is reduced insize as it goes to the right and the left edge portions and appears inthe upper area.

In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 5, the image captured by therear view wide angle camera 11 is divided into three parts of right andthe left rear lateral screens 204 and a central rearward screen 202, tobe displayed in the display screen 200. A predetermined interval isprovided between the right and the left rear lateral screens 204 and thecentral rearward screen 202 so that the driver easily recognizes thatthe image captured by the rear view wide angle camera 11 is divided.Here, the interval may be about 2 mm to 10 mm.

The display control section 25 performs distortion correction ofcorrecting the distortion due to the aberration of the wide angle lensfor images of the right and the left rear lateral screens 204. Thedisplay control section 25 displays the right and the left rear lateralscreens 204 as trapezoids having vertical opposite sides on the rightand left of the screens, corresponding to the distortion correctionperformed for the right and the left rear lateral screens 204. Thedisplay control section 25 performs the display so that the verticalheight of the rear lateral screens 204 is narrowed toward the left sideof the left rear lateral screen 204 and the right side of the right rearlateral screen 204. Further, the display control section 25 performs thedisplay in which upper and lower sides of the left rear lateral screen204 go toward an upper left side and upper and lower sides of the rightrear lateral screen 204 go toward an upper right side.

The display control section 25 displays the central rearward screen 202as rectangular. The display control section 25 displays a display rangesymbol 206 that indicates the position, with respect to the host vehicle100, of the images of the right and the left rear lateral screens 204and the central rearward screen 202. Further, the display controlsection 25 displays a vehicle width line 208 that is to be used by thedriver as a driving reference in reverse traveling of the host vehicle100, in the central rearward screen 202. Thus, the images of the rightand the left rear lateral screens 204 and the central rearward screen202 become different images.

When the moving object detecting section 21 of the ECU 20 of the drivingsupport display device 1 detects a moving object such as another vehicleV by an optical flow scheme (to be described later) (S104), the displaycontrol section 25 displays a moving object approaching detection frame210 that surrounds parts of the rear lateral screen 204 and the rearwardscreen 202 on a side where the another vehicle V approaches the hostvehicle 100 in an approaching direction of the another vehicle V, asshown in FIG. 6 (S105). The range surrounded by the moving objectapproaching detection frame 210 represents a detection range of theoptical flow in the images of the rear lateral screen 204 and therearward screen 202. In the present embodiment, a case where astationary object such as a pedestrian is present in the vicinity of thehost vehicle 100 is also reported to the driver, and an operation inthis case will be described later.

If the vehicle speed or steering angle exceeds a predetermined thresholdvalue and an operating condition of the driving support system thatnotifies of a moving object on a lateral side is not satisfied (S102),the display control section 25 does not operate a part of the drivingsupport system, and displays only the central rearward screen 202 asshown in FIG. 7 (S106). In this case, as shown in FIG. 8, the driver canrecognize that an object such as another vehicle V comes close to thehost vehicle 100 by the rearward screen 202. Thus, even when the drivingsupport system that notifies of the moving object on the lateral sidedoes not operate, it is possible to use the driving support displaydevice 1 as a monitor that supports reverse driving of the host vehicle100. Further, even when the driving support system that notifies of themoving object on the lateral side does not operate, it is possible todetect a pedestrian or the like in the image of the central rearwardscreen 202 by a pattern matching scheme (to be described later), and toreport the result to the driver.

Hereinafter, an operation of detecting an object in the driving supportdisplay device 1 of the present embodiment will be described. As shownin FIG. 9, in the present embodiment, in an optical flow support areaAop that is a range displayed in the rear lateral screens 204, an objectis detected by the optical flow in which an object included in an imageis detected by analyzing the moving direction and the speed of a pointin the image over time. In contrast, in a pattern matching support areaApm that is a range displayed in the rearward screen 202, an object isdetected by the pattern matching in which an object included in an imageis detected by comparing the image with a predetermined pattern.

In the example of FIG. 9, another vehicle V approaches the host vehicle100 from the optical flow support area Aop, and the moving objectdetecting section 21 of the ECU 20 of the driving support display device1 detects the another vehicle V by the optical flow. In an example ofFIG. 10, another vehicle V and a pedestrian P approach the host vehicle100 from the optical flow support area Aop, and the moving objectdetecting section 21 detects the another vehicle V and the pedestrian Pby the optical flow. In both examples, in the optical flow support areaAop, it is possible to detect a moving object that approaches from adistance. In the optical flow support area Aop, it is not possible todetect a stationary object. However, if the stationary object is notpresent in the vicinity of the host vehicle 100, since there is nopossibility that the stationary object comes into contact with the hostvehicle 100, only a moving object is detected by the optical flow in theoptical flow support area Aop.

In an example of FIG. 11, a pedestrian P approaches the host vehicle 100from the pattern matching support area Apm, and the moving objectdetecting section 21 of the ECU 20 of the driving support display device1 detects the pedestrian P by the pattern matching. In an example ofFIG. 12, pedestrians P who are moving from the pattern matching supportarea Apm to the host vehicle 100 and a stationary pedestrian P arepresent, and the moving object detecting section 21 detects therespective pedestrians P by the pattern matching. In both examples, inthe pattern matching support area Apm, it is possible to detect a movingobject and a stationary object in the vicinity of the host vehicle 100.In the pattern matching support area Apm, since there is a possibilitythat the stationary object comes into contact with the host vehicle 100in a moving range of the host vehicle 100, it is necessary to detect thestationary object. In the pattern matching support area Apm, the movingobject detecting section 21 compares a human pattern that is mainly usedas a comparison pattern with an object in an image. With respect to thevicinity of the host vehicle 100, it is possible to detect a stationaryobject by a sonar.

As shown in FIG. 13, if the moving object detecting section 21 of theECU 20 of the driving support display device 1 detects that a movingobject such as another vehicle V or a person approaches in the opticalflow support area Aop and in the support area A (S201), and if themoving object detecting section 21 detects that an object such as apedestrian P is present in the pattern matching support area Apm and inthe support area A (S202), the risk estimating section 24 of the ECU 20estimates the risk from the position and the relative speed of theobject (S203). The display control section 25 of the ECU 20 displays themoving object approaching detection frame 210 that surrounds a part ofthe rear lateral screen 204 on a side where the another vehicle Vapproaches and a pedestrian detection frame 212 that surrounds thepedestrian P in the rearward screen 202 and the rear lateral screen 204,as shown in FIG. 14, in a blinking manner on the basis of the risk(S204).

The risk estimating section 24 estimates that the risk of thecorresponding object becomes higher as the position of the objectbecomes closer to the host vehicle 100. The risk estimating section 24estimates that the risk of the object becomes higher as the relativespeed of the object with respect to the host vehicle 100 becomes higher.The display control section 25 makes a display time of the moving objectapproaching detection frame 210 and the pedestrian detection frame 212earlier as the risk estimated by the risk estimating section 24 becomeshigher. The display control section 25 makes a blinking interval of themoving object approaching detection frame 210 and the pedestriandetection frame 212 shorter as the risk estimated by the risk estimatingsection 24 becomes higher.

Alternatively, the display control section 25 may perform a display sothat the luminance of the moving object approaching detection frame 210and the pedestrian detection frame 212 is higher as the risk estimatedby the risk estimating section 24 is higher. Alternatively, the displaycontrol section 25 may perform a display so that colors of the movingobject approaching detection frame 210 and the pedestrian detectionframe 212 are changed as the risk estimated by the risk estimatingsection 24 increases. For example, the display control section 25 mayperform a display so that the colors of the moving object approachingdetection frame 210 and the pedestrian detection frame 212 aresequentially changed to blue, yellow and red as the risk estimated bythe risk estimating section 24 increases.

If the moving object detecting section 21 detects that a moving objectsuch as another vehicle V or a person approaches in the optical flowsupport area Aop and in the support area A (S201), and if the movingobject detecting section 21 does not detect that an object such as apedestrian P is present in the pattern matching support area Apm and inthe support area A (S202), the risk estimating section 24 estimates therisk from the position and the relative speed of the object (S205). Thedisplay control section 25 displays the moving object approachingdetection frame 210 that surrounds a part of the rear lateral screen 204on a side where the another vehicle V approaches in the rear lateralscreen 204, as shown in FIG. 6, in a blinking manner on the basis of therisk, as described above (S206).

If the moving object detecting section 21 detects that a moving objectsuch as another vehicle V or a person approaches in the optical flowsupport area Aop and in the support area A (S201), and if the movingobject detecting section 21 detects that an object such as a pedestrianA is present in the pattern matching support area Apm and in the supportarea A (S207), the risk estimating section 24 estimates the risk fromthe position and the relative speed of the object (S208). The displaycontrol section 25 displays the moving object approaching detectionframe 210 that surrounds a part of the rear lateral screen 204 on a sidewhere the another vehicle V approaches and the pedestrian detectionframe 212 that surrounds the pedestrian P in the rearward screen 202 andthe rear lateral screen 204, as shown in FIG. 15, in a blinking manneron the basis of the risk, as described above (S204).

According to the present embodiment, in the driving support displaydevice 1 that includes the rear view wide angle camera 11, the ECU 20and the display 30 that display the rearward image captured by the rearview wide angle camera 11, since the display control section 25 of theECU 20 and the display 30 divide the rearward image into the right andthe left rear lateral screens 204 and the central rearward screen 202 tobe displayed, the driver can easily recognize the display position.Further, since the display control section 25 and the display 30 do notdisplay the same image in the right and the left rear lateral screens204 and the central rearward screen 202, the driver can easilyunderstand the distance between the object in the rearward image and thehost vehicle 100. Further, since the display control section 25 performsthe distortion correction of correcting the distortion of the rearwardimage displayed in the right and the left rear lateral screens 204, therearward image is easily viewable due to the distortion correction.Further, since the display control section 25 forms the right and theleft rear lateral screens 204 in a distortion-corrected shape, thedriver can easily recognize the approaching position of the object inthe rearward image.

Further, the display control section 25 performs the distortioncorrection of correcting the distortion, due to the aberration of thewide angle lens, of images of the surrounding area displayed in theright and the left rear lateral screens 204, so that the vertical heightof the rear lateral screen 204 is narrowed toward the left side of theleft rear lateral screen 204 and the right side of the right rearlateral screen 204, the upper and the lower sides of the left rearlateral screen 204 forms the shape going toward the upper left side, andthe upper and the lower sides of the right rear lateral screen 204 formsthe trapezoid having portions going toward the upper right side. Thus,the driver can easily recognize the position where the rearward image iscaptured. Further, the driver can easily recognize the approachingposition of the object in the rearward image.

Further, the display control section 25 displays the right and the leftrear lateral screens 204 and the central rearward screen 202,respectively, at intervals. Thus, the driver can easily recognize thatthe right and the left rear lateral screens 204 and the central rearwardscreen 202 are respectively divided.

Further, the display control section 25 displays the moving objectapproaching detection frame 210 indicating the approach of the objectwhen the object included in the rearward image of either of the rightand the left rear lateral screens 204 approaches the host vehicle 100.Thus, even though the driver watches the central rearward screen 202,the driver can easily notice an object that approaches from a lateralside.

That is, in the present embodiment, by increasing the size of thecentral rearward screen 202, it is possible to easily use the displayscreen 200 as a rearward guiding monitor. By increasing the size of therearward screen 202 and reducing the size of the rear lateral screens204, an object that approaches from a lateral side becomes small in sizein the screen. However, even though the driver watches the centralrearward screen 202, the driver can easily notice the object thatapproaches from the lateral side by the moving object approachingdetection frame 210. Further, in the present embodiment, switching thescreen from normal to a wide angle is not complicated.

Further, according to the present embodiment, in the driving supportdisplay device 1 that includes the rear view wide angle camera 11, theECU 20 and the display 30 that display the rearward image captured bythe rear view wide angle camera 11, the display control section 25 ofthe ECU 20 and the display 30 can display the moving object approachingdetection frame 210 and the pedestrian detection frame 212 that supportdriving of the driver of the host vehicle 100 while dividing therearward image into the plural screens to be displayed, and change thenumber of displayed screens between when the moving object approachingdetection frame 210 is displayed and when the moving object approachingdetection frame 210 is not displayed. Thus, the driver can easilyrecognize the operation and non-operation of the system that displaysthe moving object approaching detection frame 210.

Further, the display control section 25 can divide the rearward imageinto the right and the left rear lateral screens 204 and the centralrearward screen 202 to be displayed, and displays the right and the leftrear lateral screens 204 and the central rearward screen 202 whendisplaying the moving object approaching detection frame 210 and thepedestrian detection frame 212 and displays only the central rearwardscreen 202 when not displaying the moving object approaching detectionframe 210. Thus, the driver can easily recognize the operation andnon-operation of the system that displays the moving object approachingdetection frame 210. Further, even though the system that displays themoving object approaching detection frame 210 does not operate, sincethe central rearward screen 202 is displayed, it is possible to use thecentral rearward screen 202 for rearward monitoring.

Further, the display control section 25 displays the moving objectapproaching detection frame 210 indicating the approach of the objectwhen the object included in the right and the left rear lateral screens204 approaches the host vehicle 100. Thus, even though the driverwatches the central screen, the driver can easily notice the object thatapproaches from the lateral side.

Further, the display control section 25 does not display the movingobject approaching detection frame 210 when either the speed or thesteering angle of the host vehicle 100 is equal to or greater than thepredetermined threshold value. As the method of detecting the approachof the object, there is radar, lidar, sonar, image recognition or thelike, but erroneous detection or non-detection may occur when the speedor the steering angle of the vehicle is large. The erroneous detectionand non-detection cause the driver to have a distrust of the system.Thus, the moving object approaching detection frame 210 is not displayedwhen the speed or the steering angle of the host vehicle 100 is equal toor greater than the threshold value, and thus, it is possible to preventthe erroneous detection and non-detection of the object that approachesthe host vehicle 100.

Further, according to the present embodiment, in the driving supportdisplay device 1 that includes the rear view wide angle camera 11, theECU 20 and the display 30 that display the rearward image captured bythe rear view wide angle camera 11, the display control section 25 ofthe ECU 20 and the display 30 divide the rearward image into the rightand the left rear lateral screens 204 and the central rearward screen202 to be displayed, detect the object included in the image bycomparing the image with the predetermined pattern with respect to thethe images of central rearward screen 202, detect the object included inthe image by analyzing the moving direction and the speed of the pointin the image over time with respect to the images of the right and theleft rear lateral screens 204, and display the moving object approachingdetection frame 210 and the pedestrian detection frame 212 indicatingthe presence of the detected object. Thus, it is possible to detect aperson who is stationary in the vicinity of the front of the hostvehicle 100, a person who is present in the vicinity of the front of thehost vehicle 100 when the host vehicle 100 moves, or the like by thepattern matching scheme for comparing an image with a predeterminedpattern, and to notify the driver of the presence of the detected personor the like. Further, by detecting a person, a vehicle and the like thatapproach from a distance on the lateral side of the host vehicle 100 bythe optical flow scheme for analyzing the moving direction and the speedof a point in an image over time, it is possible to notify the driver ofthe presence of the detected person, vehicle and the like. Accordingly,it is possible to appropriately detect the object according to theposition, the speed and the type of the object, and to display thedetected object.

Further, the display control section 25 displays the pedestriandetection frame 212 that surrounds the pedestrian P when the pedestrianP included in the image of the central rearward screen 202 is detected,and displays the moving object approaching detection frame 210 thatsurrounds at least a part of either of the right and the left rearlateral screens 204 on which the object is detected when the objectincluded in either image of the right and the left rear lateral screens204 is detected. Thus, the driver can recognize that the schemes ofdetecting the object are different from each other in the centralrearward screen 202 and the right and the left rear lateral screens 204.That is, by making how the frame surrounds a screen different in thecentral rearward screen 202 and in the right and the left rear lateralscreens 204, it is possible to notify the driver that a person isdetected only in the central rearward screen.

The driver usually checks the lateral direction when starting to drive,and usually checks the central rear side when starting to drive andduring movement. In the case of the movement, since it is necessary toquickly check the object, it is also possible to recognize the positionof the object by the pedestrian detection frame 212 surrounding theobject.

The invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, andvarious modifications may be made in a range without departing from thespirit of the invention. For example, if the processing load of thedriving support display device 1 in the embodiments is large, as shownin FIG. 16, the size of rear lateral screens 204′ may be reducedaccording to distortion correction. As described above, the movingobject approaching detection frame 210 that notifies the driver that themoving object is detected is changed according to the range where theobject is detected. When the object is detected in the rear lateralscreens 204′, the moving object approaching detection frame 210 may bedisplayed only in the rear lateral screen 204′.

Further, in the above-described embodiments, the rear lateral screens204 are removed when the driving support system does not operate.However, if the rear lateral screens 204 are removed when the drivingsupport system does not operate, a driver may feel that he or she cannotsee the rear lateral screens 204 although wanting to see the rearlateral screens 204. Thus, as shown in FIG. 17, when the driving supportsystem does not operate, it is possible to display a non-operationdisplay line 214 in the rear lateral screens 204 while displaying therear lateral screens 204.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

According to an image display device and an image display method of anembodiment of the invention, it is possible to display an image that iseasily viewable and easily understandable by a driver.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST

-   -   1 Driving support display device    -   11 Rear view wide angle camera    -   12 Vehicle speed sensor    -   13 Steering angle sensor    -   14 Shift position sensor    -   20 ECU    -   21 Moving object detecting section    -   22 Moving object trajectory detecting section    -   23 Moving object position and relative speed detecting section    -   24 Risk estimating section    -   25 Display control section    -   30 Display    -   100 Host vehicle    -   200 Display screen    -   202 Rearward screen    -   204, 204′ Rear lateral screen    -   206 Display range symbol    -   208 Vehicle width line    -   210 Moving object approaching detection frame    -   212 Pedestrian detection frame    -   214 Non-operating display line    -   A Support area    -   Aop Optical flow support area    -   Apm Pattern matching support area    -   V Another vehicle    -   P Pedestrian

The invention claimed is:
 1. An image display device comprising: animage obtaining unit configured to obtain an image of a surrounding areaof a vehicle; and an image display unit configured to display the imageof the surrounding area obtained by the image obtaining unit, whereinthe image display unit is configured to divide the image of thesurrounding area into a left lateral screen, a central screen and aright lateral screen for display, is configured to perform distortioncorrection of correcting distortion of the image of the surrounding areadisplayed on the left lateral screen and the right lateral screen, andis configured to form the left lateral screen and the right lateralscreen in a shape based on the distortion correction, and is configuredto display the left lateral screen and the right lateral screen beingformed in the shape based on the distortion correction with the centralscreen.
 2. The image display device according to claim 1, wherein theimage display unit is configured to perform the distortion correction ofcorrecting distortion of the image of the surrounding area displayed onthe left lateral screen and the right lateral screen due to aberrationof a wide angle lens, and is configured to narrow a vertical height ofthe left lateral screen and the right lateral screen toward a left sideof the left lateral screen and a right side of the right lateral screen,in which an outer edge of the left lateral screen has a shape having aportion going toward an upper left side and an outer edge of the rightlateral screen has a shape having a portion going toward an upper rightside.
 3. The image display device according to claim 1, wherein theimage display unit is configured to perform the distortion correction ofcorrecting distortion of the image of the surrounding area displayed onthe left lateral screen and the right lateral screen due to aberrationof a wide angle lens, and is configured to form the left lateral screenand the right lateral screen to have a size smaller than that of thecentral screen.
 4. The image display device according to claim 1,wherein the image display unit is configured to display the left lateralscreen, the central screen and the right lateral screen, respectively,at intervals.
 5. The image display device according to claim 1, whereinthe image display unit is configured to display, when an object includedin the image of the surrounding area of either of the left lateralscreen and the right lateral screen approaches the vehicle, a drivingsupport display indicating the approach of the object.
 6. An imagedisplay method comprising: obtaining an image of a surrounding area of avehicle; and displaying the image of the surrounding area obtained inthe obtaining of the image of the surrounding area, wherein thedisplaying of the image of the surrounding area includes dividing theimage of the surrounding area into a left lateral screen, a centralscreen and a right lateral screen for display, performing distortioncorrection of correcting distortion of the image of the surrounding areadisplayed on the left lateral screen and the right lateral screen, andforming the left lateral screen and the right lateral screen in a shapebased on the distortion correction, and displaying the left lateralscreen and the right lateral screen being formed in the shape based onthe distortion correction with the central screen.